Is it illegal discrimination for Weight Watchers fire an overweight discusson leader, if her weight gain was due to cancer treatments? The State of New Jersey Division of Civil Rights thinks so. They just found that there is there is probable cause For a weight discrimination claim. Their reasoning is that her cancer-caused weight gain is a disability, but she can nevertheless do her job of leading weight-loss meetings.
I am currently attending Weight Watchers meetings in Northern New Jersey, although I do not know Ms. Favocci. All the discussion leaders I’ve encountered had lost a lot of weight following the WW method, and had successfully kept it off. I imagine WW’s defence will be that this profile is an essential part of the psychology of encouraging weight loss.
I agree with that theory. I’d be less inspired by someone who failed to keep her weight down, whatever the reason. Nor do I fully buy the claim that the cancer treatments “caused her weight gain.” Regardless of treatment, she has some control over what she eats.
Of course, it’s mean to fire an employee who is fighting cancer, but that ought not to matter legally.
Which way will this Weight Watchers decision go? Which side should win? Which side will win? Will there be some compromise?
I suspect there will be a compromise. I think Weight Watchers has a strong case, but they will not want the expense, bad publicity and risk of fighting to the finish.
For the longest time, I couldn’t believe a friend who said she gained weight from breast cancer treatments, but it’s true. I also think WW is looking at some serious bad PR from the stance they’re taking. I think most people would sympathize with the cancer patient.
I think some sort of compromise would be best here as well. Like you, december, I am a current WW attendee and would think that something was amiss if the meeting were led by someone overweight. While I might dismiss the matter if the leader explains the extenuating circumstances, she would then have to do so at every meeting (since there generally are new people at every meeting).
I think that maybe giving her some other position (not as group leader) on a temporary basis, until she gets her weight back under control would be the best thing to do.
Zev, this is interesting, and goes along with what I was going to post anyway.
When a Weight Watcher employee (i.e. a Leader) becomes pregnant (a qualified disability, am I correct?) she may still be employed by WW as a meeting room leader. Obviously she’d be pregnant, and people would know that. Once she has the baby, she’s given a certain period of time (varies depending on if you’re nursing or not, I seem to recall) in which to get back down to her goal weight. As she is working, she is required [by the employee handbook] to announce at EACH MEETING that she is coming off of pregnancy and is working as her members are to lose that weight that she gained.
If she does not get back to her goal weight in that specified time [and assuming there are no extenuating circumstances] she can then be removed from her meeting until such time as she returns to her goal weight.
I’m not going to bother with whether or not the treatment TRULY caused the weight gain. But it would seem that she and WW could work out some compromise in which she would announce that she is undergoing treatment that is causing weight gain.
I hope that WW does not fight this too hard, since yes, it’s a potential PR nightmare.
When weight is a prerequisite for employment, sure you want to stick to the rules, but it seems like this is an exception that could easily be dealt with in a more sensitive manner.
I’d also like to add one more thing: after reading the article, I am unclear as to whether or not Ms. Favocci was a full-time WW employee.
I work 2-3 meetings a week, which translates into about 5-6 hours per week. In order to receive benefits, you need to work (I think) something like 10-12 meetings a week. Would disability coverage depend on # of hours worked?
I wonder if that has any effect on this case. I guess my point being that employment with Weight Watchers isn’t always similar to being in a cubicle for 40 hours a week. And the information just wasn’t there in the article.
Although, it does sound like they initially found other work for her to do. But then they eliminated the position…don’t know why, but I guess that’s when this whole thing came to a head.
Two years ago when an illness of then-unknown origin hit me pretty hard, I was put on all kinds of medications to try to ‘cure’ me. After a while they thought I had lupus and kept giving me meds for that, which made me gain a bunch of weight.
Yes, I still had control over what I ate, and I ate no more (in fact, I ate less) than usual, and pretty much lost interest in all junk type food because hey, I was sick and I didn’t want to eat. But the drugs I had to take had disasterous affects on my metabolism, which DID slow to a crawl and at one point I gained over 20 lbs in one week, while during that week I ate nothing but skinless, boneless baked chicken with pepper, salad with nothing but vinegar on it, and yams. I ate one meal a day, and most of the rest of the time couldn’t stand to see food.
Having been sick with the flu for a week or so before that and knowing that living on the ‘one meal if I can force it down every day’ diet for a week would always cause some weight loss, I couldn’t understand why during that week I gained so much weight. The side-effects of the drugs did it, but without the drugs, I probably would’ve died due to the intense inflammation of my lungs and bronchial tubes cutting off my air supply.
So yes, you do always have control over what you eat, but you can’t always control whether or not you gain weight, especially when you’re on meds for a serious illness.
WW is nuts here if they think that firing someone for gaining weight due to taking life-saving drugs is OK. It’s not. It’s discriminating against a person because of a medical condition beyond their control. That’s illegal. What would they expect her to do? Forget about the cancer treatments so she can stay thin?
If she genuinely gained that weight through cancer treatment, and medical experts can attest to it, then I am appalled that WW fired her. Were I a WW member I would resign.
On her part, she should be prepared to disclose to members why she has gained weight. Eg:
“Now I’m currently 20 pounds overweight due to some medication I am taking, but just a year ago, after following our WW diet, I was near to my goal weight. Here is a picture of me at that weight before my illness started.”
[hand round photo] [show slide]
Kalhoun - my mother’s hair has just grown back curly after chemo! Weird hey? It was straight as a die all her life beforehand, not so much as a kink or wave in it.
Yes, most certainly can cancer treatment drugs cause dramatic weight gain. Usually it’s steroids like Prednisone or Decadron. It’s amazing how a person’s appearance and metabolism can change due to these drugs. And the cancer victim has no control over it. Imagine how powerless that is…a person gets cancer and somehow musters up the courage to fight it, but the drugs can make you fat despite what you eat, and often at the same time those drugs can make you lose your appetite and/or barf a lot, you lose your hair, you can lose a part of your body, etc etc.
What Weight Watchers did to this woman is truly terrible!!
DDG, no one mentioned it but me. It is a side-effect of chemo. Just like weight gain. I thought I was clear, but I guess not.
Istara, yeah, I don’t know why this happens. Maybe the Master has a clue. But my friend felt very different after chemo. Minus a breast, straight hair, and curly fingernails. And fat. With all the throwing up related to chemo, I would automatically think there would be a drastic weight loss!
There have been studies (a recent paper out of Duke can be accessed via Google - search under weight gain and chemotherapy) showing weight gain is often associated with breast cancer chemotherapy, typically 5-14 pounds).
According to an oncologist colleague, adding pounds may be related to taking hormonal agents like Tamoxifen. He also notes that in treating colon cancer, steroids are sometimes given to help prevent nausea related to other chemotherapy agents, and steroids can cause weight gain.
Prednisone, a corticosteroid, is a part of many chemotherapy regimens. Steroids are notorious for causeing weight gain. So it’s quite possible for patients on such treatment plans to gain weight (which is usually not a bad thing, since weight loss often accompanies cancer).
Kalhoun - I believe it’s all the steroids you have to take that cause the weight gain. I am not sure what the steroids are for exactly though. Any medics out there?
How long do the metabolic effects of such treatments persist? According to the article in the OP’s link, Favocci finished her cancer treatments nearly two years ago.
IANAD, but I have Ulcerative Colitis and have been on and off Prednisone for the last decade. It’s primarily an anti-inflammatory drug. I’m not sure what it does for people with cancer, but for me, it heals the bleeding ulcerations in my colon when my illness is really bad. And while I’m always very sick and dehydrated when I have to take the steroid, I gain an average of 20-30 pounds each time I have to take it–depending on the dosage. The weight is hard to lose for some people and easier for others. If she had to continue the steroid treatments off and on, she may not have had time to lose the weight between treatments.
However, if she was completely weaned off the Prednisone two years ago, I see no reason why she can’t lose the weight, especially following the WW plan. That seems to me that would be more than enough time to lose the extra weight.
Kimstu: The effects of steroids, especially if taken long term or by a person with an immune sensitivity toward them can last a long time.
As I type this, it has been over a year and a half since my steroid treatment ended, and my metabolism is still in its slowed, nasty state. I’ve been losing some of the weight I gained while on it, which totaled 35 - 40 lb, but so far in the last year and a half, I’ve lost 10 - 15 lb.
Steroids are serious drugs, and people don’t always realize it because they’re prescribed pretty often. More often than you’d think, the steroids ravage the patient’s body. I didn’t know it until after the damage was done, but I have a permanently damaged immune system and a metabolic problem FOR LIFE because of them.
And Prednisone is what did the damage. Thanks to 20 or so doctors at UPMC, I now know that Prednisone isn’t as safe as it’s often assumed, and that it’s not uncommon to have serious problems because of taking it. If I hadn’t been weaned off of the thing that was poisoning me, I would have died. And to add insult to injury, even though the Pred was killing me, I couldn’t just stop taking it immediately. I had go off it slowly, and let it continue to do damage, because to suddenly stop would’ve been EVEN WORSE.